Basement Flooring

4 months ago

We recently notices several areas of our LVP flooring in our basement sagging with soft spots. We just refinished the basement from top to bottom in 2019. When we removed a plank, we found that there were 3 layers below the flooring, Dricore, a type of particle board with glue, noise reduction layer with silver backing, and then the LVP floor. There was water coming into the basement which we are still trying to find the source of which basically made the particle board material mush. We are also finding that the contractor who installed the floor and did the rest of the remodeling, used screws to hold the Dricore in place on the cement slab...so a few things done wrong!

Now we are looking to replace the flooring and add a sump pump system. The flooring the basement company is recommending is ThermaDry planks with nothing between cement and finished flooring. Has anyone used this brand of flooring? It doesn't seem as sturdy as the LVP but I guess is more breatheable(?) and planks can be removed, dried, and put back in place in the event that water does come into basement again. My concern is that we have a treadmill and use weights in the basement and I'm not sure this ThermaDry flooring will not damage over time..

Any other suggestions on flooring that could be used? We like a more realistic wood look if possible.

Thank you

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Comments (4)

Lyn Nielson
4 months ago
ask for references in your area for the ThermaDry.

my first question is have you never had a moisture issue prior to the first installation.

Basements are unique, exterior evaluation is always the first step.

... I used bamboo on a basement floor application and have never had an issue, but I addressed the exterior drainage first. I do not have a sump pump.
Norah Mahon
Original Author
4 months ago
Thank you! I will reach out to neighbors to see if any of them used the same basement company.

Interestingly, we have been in the house for 14 years and only had two instances of water coming in from the outside. Once when pool guys thought it was a good idea to drain the pool towards the house, and the second time was shortly after we did the basement remodel and had two 9" rainfalls back to back. The window wells filled up like aquariums and water ended up running down the walls. It is possible the contractor who did the basement work and replaced the windows did not do something correctly with one of the windows/wells as the water seems to be coming from that particular area.

As part of the upcoming project, we will replace all the windows and wells with a one piece unit that will drain into the sump pump if water does get into them. I just want to make sure we do the correct flooring this time so we will not be dealing with this again in the future!
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Sigrid
4 months ago
If your basement has always been dry, I'd be looking at an external source of water. We had an ell in a downspout fall off, so the water was pouring right next to our foundation wall and our basement flooded. We fixed the downspout and have never had another problem. The downspout failure was under our porch, so I crawled there in a downpour, which was wet and dirty, but made the problem obvious.
PRO
Minardi
4 months ago
Waterproofing always starts outside, where the water originates. If it makes it in, your waterproofing of your exterior was a failure.

After you get the issue fixes, then address the symptom of the issue by excavating back to the concrete slab. Leave it like that for a while, to make sure that your exterior efforts were effective. Then, you can grind high spots, fill low spots, and put down any type of vinyl that you want. Sheet vinyl is a better choice than plank vinyl.